March 26th Strumpshaw Fen

I had to do a bit of a shuffle around this week. I had other plans for this Wednesday morning, so for one day only, I changed my shift for this Tuesday morning instead. I also had to catch a bus instead of a train at Norwich train station. It feels all topsy turvy today, but once I arrived at Strumpshaw this morning, it was business as usual.

Wren

My breath turned to visible vapour in the slightly chilly air as I went for my walk before my shift this morning. The birds were being rather photo friendly (at least most of them) this week. Chiffchaffs, goldcrests, marsh tits, wrens and long-tailed tits, five species that usually give me a run around to get their photo, but were much kinder to me today. Chiffchaffs, in particular, were in good voice and in good numbers today. You'd had to be deaf not to hear them calling their species' name over and over. I also heard my first blackcap of the year (though they were one of the few that were camera shy), saw a bullfinch and a Cetti's warbler by the river (again, camera shy) and I found a bum-barrel nest, a nest of a long-tailed tit.

Chiffchaff

Marsh Tit

Goldcrest

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit nest

Almost got the bird in full view on the nest!

Shelduck

Filling up Strumpshaw's feeders

With my search for a job still going on, I've been asking Strumpshaw's staff if there were any things or tasks that I could do to build up some skills. Last week, I began by trying out the Reception Hide's till for the first time ever. I'm still learning the basics with that one. This week, I've been given a new assignment; bird feeder topper-upper. I was shown the ropes on what to do and where everything was kept. Its pretty much the same deal as the feeders in your garden, but we also sprinkle some peanuts and seeds inside the cracks and crannies of the surrounding area to please the visiting photographers who want that more natural foraging behaviour in their shots. After sorting out the feeders, we then gave the bird bath a clean and a refill.

Marsh Harrier

It was another rather quiet morning at the broad outside the Reception Hide this week. Greylags and coot were the main things out there, though not in great numbers this time, with a few mallards and even fewer gadwall amongst them. The marsh harriers were the main attraction though as many of them were performing elaborate sky dances. The males were more handsome than ever in their plumage of browns and greys with black wingtips as if they were dipped in ink. The brown females were joining in the dance with aerial chases to show their interest in their chosen potential partner. I also had a distant view of a bittern flying left along the far side of the reserve. Not a bad morning overall. Next week, it will be back to normal on a Wednesday.

A white Greylag